The current effort for the 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) program is to bring new technology, new architecture, and new techniques in the new LTE setting and configurations to provide improved spectral efficiency, reduced latency, and better utilization of the radio resources to bring faster user experiences and richer applications and services with less cost.
As part of these efforts, the 3GPP has introduced the concept of a home node B or home enhanced Node B (HeNB) in LTE (and also, possibly in other cellular standards). The HeNB refers to a physical device similar to a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point (AP). The HeNB provides users with access to LTE services over extremely small service areas, such as homes or small offices. The HeNB is intended to connect to the operators' core network by using, for example, public Internet connections. This can be particularly useful in areas where LTE has not been deployed and/or legacy 3GPP radio access technology (RAT) coverage already exists. This may also be useful in areas where LTE coverage may be faint or non-existent for radio transmission problems that occur, for example, while in an underground metro or a shopping mall.
A cell refers to the area over which radio coverage provided by the HeNB is available. The cell deployed by the HeNB may be accessed only by a group of subscribers who have access to the services of the cell (e.g., a family) and such a cell may be referred to as a HeNB cell, or more commonly, a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG) cell. A HeNB may be used to deploy one or more CSG cells over the area which LTE coverage is desired. The term CSG call may be used for a cell deployed by a HeNB for LTE services or by a HNB for WCDMA or other legacy 3GPP RAT services.
In some cases, for example, a malicious user or group of users may attack the network by overloading the network with unnecessary signaling. As a result, the network can become overburdened, and the quality of service provided by the network may be significantly reduced. Furthermore, some wireless network operators want to limit their subscribers from accessing CSG Cells while roaming on a visited network to prevent differentiated service aspects and possible fraud. For at least these reasons, it is desired to provide techniques for preventing or deterring such acts.